I (really) enjoy reading and I like sharing good resources with others. To help you know if any of these recommendations might be for you, I will try to provide answers to three questions: what is the resource about, why is it important, and what should I do about this? — Dr. Christian Klaue
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What Can I Take Off Your Plate? - Jill Handley, Lara Donnelly
What is this resource about? Handley and Donnelly address the important issue of teacher burnout. Many others talk about teachers needing to engage in better self-care, but that is merely adding one more task to overworked teachers. Handley and Donnelly recommend focusing on time, effort, and resources to reduce teacher workload. Administrators will learn how to reduce initiative fatigue, and increase support within the classroom.
Why is it important? Work-life balance has been getting worse for most people, particularly after Covid. We are expected to do more with less. Unfortunately, that often leads to burning out rather than being able to take care of our health. Any measures to reduce the overall workload are to be examined and followed (where possible).
What should I do? ADecide whether or not reducing workload is a path you want to follow. If it is, and it does take work on the part of the administrator, then read this book and start with one, maximum two, suggestions and implement them. Wait and gauge teacher reaction. If you think it is still worthwhile, continue following the suggestions given.
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Hanging In - Jeffrey Benson
What is this resource about? Benson provides practical steps on dealing with 13 different types of challenging students. These challenges range from students with trauma to dealing with intellectual challenges and to dealing with fragmented academic skills. Each chapter starts with a case study of a student dealing with one or more challenges and then ends with sections on recommendations for students, support staff and teachers, and administrators.
Why is it important? Increasing numbers of students in our schools deal with issues that were not addressed during our teacher training. As the number and variety of issues increase, so does our sense of inadequacy. Benson’s suggestions are practical and easy to implement.
What should I do? Write out a list of the struggles that your students have and see which ones Benson provides support for. Read through the case study and see if his suggestions make sense. And then, enjoy your students again.
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Connecting Church & School - Paul Coxall
What is this resource about? Coxall describes how we should go about teaching the BIble to (our) children. He shares practical steps for preparation, connection with children, and communication.
Why is it important? Parents often behave as if the spiritual education of their children depends on the church or on others. It is, however, their own responsibility. We cannot depend on others to take on our responsibility.
What should I do? For those that are not sure on how to start explaining the Bible to their children, read this book and start following the various instructions Coxall provides.
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A Song for Nagasaki - Paul Glynn
Who is this resource about? This is a biography of Takahashi Nagai, a professor of radiology in Nagasaki who survived the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Nagai practiced Shintoism but called himself a believer in science. He believed that human ingenuity and science could solve all the world’s problems…until he was introduced to Blaise Pascal’s Pensees and then boarded with a Catholic family. His conversion took years, but then became what he lived for, in spite of his career as a radiologist. He was a pioneer in the new field of radiology and so did not know how to go about protecting himself from the overexposure to radiation. He developed leukemia but maintained his work. He served in the Japanese army twice, first as a private and then as a doctor. When he returned the second time, he sent his children to their grandmother, who lived a few miles away. The atomic bomb vapourized his wife (all he could find was a jaw fragment, a hip fragment, and a vertebrae) and severely injured him. Nagai and his colleagues from the hospital frantically tried to save as many as they could. Some months later, Nagai was asked to write an inscription for a monument raised in memory of the girls from the girls’ catholic school, located within a few hundred metres of the epicentre of the atomic bomb, that had been killed during the explosion. Following is the first stanza of his dedication:
Their scribbling remains on the walls at home, just names penciled by childish hands.
If only we could go and call them just once more and hear them answer!
Ah! Those children! If only they were with us still.
How can I pray? There are those who seek to be served and those who seek to serve others. Nagai was one who sought to serve others, for in doing so, he served Christ. Pray that we, too, could serve others as Nagai served those around him.